Yeah, not the most original of ideas, but dammit I just really feel like writing something while I sort out ideas for future storylines in Dragon Ball NG. And of course I don't own Dragon Ball, Z, or GT, because this would be a manga in Shonen Jump instead of a story posted on a website.
Sure, back when it happened, he was perfectly fine with it. His dad had chosen to stay dead because he simply attracted too much villains. After all, the whole mess with the Androids and Cell was the result of a mad plot dedicated to exacting revenge on him, right? So then, it'd make perfect sense for him to stay away from Earth to keep it safe just in case some other figure from the past decides to show up, because mysterious badasses from the future aren't always going to be there to warn them all. And besides, he was going to have tons of fun in the afterlife, anyway! That's what Son Gohan rationalized in the immediate weeks following the Cell Games. But as the months went on, the weight of his father's loss truly started to come to the surface.
For one thing, his mother was pregnant again. She was already nearly three months along by the time the Androids arrived, but she hadn't even realized it! The half Saiyan immediately felt hatred towards his late father. How could he leave them behind when she was carrying his second child? Who the hell did he think he was to allow his own kid to live not knowing who their father is beyond stories? But of course, Gohan came to his senses. It was pretty obvious that he just plain didn't know, seeing as how his mother didn't. That was surely a weight lifted off of his shoulders, at least. However, during the later stages of her pregnancy, Gohan had to play the role of caretaker. His mother was already temperamental enough without her hormones raging, but now? Fighting Cell was like child's play!
Gohan became angrier – angry at his dad for leaving him, a damn 11 year old boy, to do all of this. And more importantly, he was angry at himself; he felt like a failure. Although he saved the world, hell, the entire universe, if it weren't for his stupid conceit, he could've done it without having to lose Goku in the process. Those words of warning that Goku shouted to him during the battle kept ringing through his head throughout the months:
"Don't push him even further over the edge! There's no telling what he'll do!"
All he did was fucking smirk at him. Gohan's mood became worse. This wasn't helped at all by the fact that his newborn brother looked just like the father who he failed to protect and then left him behind. Sure, it was incredibly selfish to blame Goten for anything, but his eyes and that damn hair was a constant reminder of why his mental well-being was taking a nosedive. Afterwards, Gohan became very temperamental and standoffish. He would yell at Chi-Chi every time she would order him to study, and when she finally had enough and forced him to go to his room, he of course would sneak off and hang out with Piccolo. But not even the 7 foot Namekian warrior was safe from Gohan's mood swings. He had a high tolerance level, but Gohan was definitely pushing him to his absolute limits. More than once had the half Saiyan destroyed something in his home in a fit of rage, and his arguments with Chi-Chi became increasingly nasty. He became a far-cry from the innocent little Son Gohan everyone once knew.
3 Years Later
*RIIIIIIIIIIING!*
Gohan was rolling around in his bed. That damn ringing was irritating the living hell out of him.
*RIIIIIIIIIIING!*
Gohan rolled over face down and slammed a pillow on the back of his wild hair.
*RIIIIIIIIIIIING!*
The demi-Saiyan had just about all he could take. He raised his hand up and it was glowing with Ki intended for his current enemy: the damned alarm clock. It was the 5th replacement in the past 2 weeks alone! But before he could fire, he felt a significant weight slam onto his back.
"WAKE UP BIG BROTHER! IT'S TIME FOR BREAKFAST!"
The perpetrator was the three year old Goten. Merrily jumping up and down, the little Saiyan tried to get his brother out of bed. He was the only thing keeping him from the 25 plates waiting for him, since Chi-Chi insisted on the whole trio being present for their meals.
Gohan sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright, I'm getting up!" He whined, swatting Goten off of him. He slowly rose from his bed, scratching through the various large spikes in his hair. He really didn't feel like getting up this morning. In addition to his usual awful mood, he was fearing the wrath of his mother, which exceeded that of the seventh circle of hell, he assumed. In another one of their arguments, he crossed that which should never be crossed – sick of her yelling and just wanting to get some goddamned sleep, he went as far as saying a very nasty insult: "Jeez, sometimes I understand why dad wanted to stay dead." His mother's reaction was dangerously calm, probably shocked that he would even say something so harsh. Even Gohan realized that he should have never let the words leave his mouth, but he was so weary of his punishment that he was too scared to even apologize.
Gohan tensely eyed his mother as he approached the kitchen table. Surprisingly, all she said was, "Good morning, Gohan."
"Morning, mom." Gohan said through a yawn. He and Chi-Chi took a seat, much to the approval of the hungry three year old waiting to devour the meal, which could have served entire armies, set in front of him. As soon as Chi-Chi finished saying their morning grace, Goten devoured his food. Gohan on the other hand, just looked down at the pancakes in front of him, doing nothing but poking a fork in them with his head slumped in his left hand.
Chi-Chi sighed. "Gohan, about yesterday; I know you didn't mean what you said. To be truthful, I shouldn't have started yelling at you."
"I'm sorry about what I said, mom. I was just so mad that I blurted out whatever came to my head. I was out of line." Gohan said, sincerely.
Chi-Chi weakly smiled. "It's okay. But I wanted to talk to you about something else."
Gohan grunted in annoyance. Here we go again.
"I've decided to enroll you in Orange Star High School. The school year starts next week." Chi-Chi announced.
Gohan simply glared at his mother. "You're joking, right?"
"I most certainly am not! A boy your age needs to socialize with other kids!" Chi-Chi rebutted. And a woman at my age needs ~GRANDCHILDREN!~ "I think it will help cheer up your spirits."
"Well, you definitely thought wrong on that one." Gohan answered back.
Chi-Chi growled at her son and her eyes narrowed. "We are definitely not going down that road again! I'm not asking you if you want to go, I'm telling you!"
Gohan stood back up, not even touching his meal. "Yeah, whatever." He turned to the stairs and went up to his room. "Just call me when you finally come to your senses."
Chi-Chi sighed and looked at Gohan's once occupied chair in concern. Sometimes it truly made her sad how much her son had changed over the years. She looked up at the sky, hoping her husband would see her. Goku, why can't you just come back?
Gohan slammed his door so hard it almost broke off its hinges and roughly sat on his bed. What the fuck was she thinking? His mother must have finally gone off the deep-end. High school? What did he need that for? He already mastered that level of education by the time he was seven! What was he going to do, just sleep all day? There was no way a guy like him would fit in with a bunch of regular ki-
*RIIIIIIIIIIIING!*
Gohan angrily growled, stood up, walked over to the Dende-forsaken alarm clock, grabbed it, and crushed it to pieces once and for all. And just in case the rest of the inanimate objects in his room didn't get the message, he violently kicked his dresser, causing it to fall over and spill a bunch of his clothes with it. Gohan collapsed onto his bed and sighed, hoping this was all just some crazy dream.
A few hours later, Gohan heard a knock on his door.
"Gohan?" Chi-Chi asked.
"What?" Gohan asked in annoyance.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Whatever."
Chi-Chi opened the door and walked over to Gohan, who was sitting in his bed. "Look, Gohan, I understand why you're mad over this, but just listen."
"Why?" Gohan cut in. "Is this your idea of a crazy punishment for all of the bad things I've done over the last couple of years?"
Chi-Chi chuckled. "You know I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was good for you. You need to make friends, and no, big green aliens and martial artists who are all old enough to be your parents don't count."
"But I can't make friends with kids my age. I can snap them like a twig if I felt like it." Gohan whined. He had a point. "How am I going to fit in if I have to constantly worry about keeping my powers hidden?"
Chi-Chi smirked. "You're the one who wants to be a scientist. You figure it out."
Gohan gave a conceding nod. "Alright, alright, fine, I'll give it a try. But in the likelihood that it doesn't work out, don't get mad at me, got it?"
Chi-Chi put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course, son." She said before leaving. Gohan took a deep breath and lay back down on his bed. The next week was going to be really interesting, to say the least.
Seven days later, Gohan was awoken by the 15th replacement of his alarm clock. He was not looking forward to this new school at all. Yawning, Gohan grabbed a big black t-shirt (mostly to cover up his muscles) and a pair of dark blue jeans. Chi-Chi suggested he cut his hair into something along the lines of Yamcha's style to look less conspicuous but he didn't really give a crap. He liked his hair the way it was.
Gohan walked outside, where his mother was waiting for him.
"Now, son, I know you're not in the greatest of spirits but just try to make friends, okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Gohan said in a disinterested tone.
Chi-Chi gave her son a big hug. "Have fun!"
"Suuuure." Gohan deadpanned. He blasted off to the sky, not even caring about how odd of a site a 14 year old flying around over the city was. Satan City was a big place, although nothing that captured his interest at this point. He had been there plenty of times before, usually taking Goten around somewhere and even beating up the occasional robber, in his Super Saiyan form of course, to pass by the time. And from the sound of things, it looked like he was going to have to do that again. Gohan turned over to a bank, where he was hearing numerous screams and gunshots. Gohan sighed in annoyance before going Super Saiyan and running over to the crime scene.
A couple of guys wearing ski masks were pointing guns around with various bags of money in their hands. "Yeah, that's good, just let us get away and nobody gets hurt." One of the skinnier guys said as they slowly backed out of the doors. They turned around to find the police already waiting for them. The criminal trio exchanged glances and unleashed a shower of bullets on the police force. In the crazy shootout, the big guy ran over to a truck and tossed the bags in and got into the driver's seat. He quickly stomped on the gas pedal and took off, shouting at his two smaller comrades. They all hopped in, escaping the angry cops and relaxed knowing they got away with the crime.
That is, until a golden haired, teal eyed half Saiyan suddenly appeared in front of him. The startled driver swerved to the side to avoid a collision while shouting every obscenity in the book. He leaned out of the window to give this little punk a piece of his mind.
"Stupid little kid! Watch where the hell you're going!" He shouted.
"Just return the money and I'll see to it you don't have to spend a few nights confined to a hospital bed." Gohan ordered, his voice deceptively calm. The three criminals let out obnoxious howls of laughter.
"This kid thinks he's tough! Let's take care of 'im quick!" The smallest one ordered.
Gohan jammed his foot into the hood of the car as a warning. The trio froze up but were nonetheless ready to unleash on Gohan. They started firing bullets but Gohan dodged them like he was taking a stroll in the park. Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Gohan closed his eyes and shook his head. "Warned 'em."
Gohan swiftly knocked the three guys out, chopping the two small guys in the neck and then delivering a brutal kick to the jaw of the large one to send him several hundred, maybe even thousand feet into the air. Gohan grabbed the bags of money and brought them over to the area where the robbery occurred, getting an applause from the civilians on the way there. The dog-like police chief shook his hand.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Gold Fighter!" He said.
"Yeah, whatever." Gohan replied in pure boredom before flying away. Fighting crime was so mundane, even though it was kinda fun showing off.
Gohan finally found his destination – Orange Star High School. It was huge, nearly giving Capsule Corporation a run for its money. Gohan exhaled, bracing himself for hell.
He stepped inside the school and was taken aback by the sheer amount of students running throughout the hall to get to their classes. As he walked down the hall, he saw through his peripheral vision girls whispering to each other and giving him suggestive looks. With his advanced hearing, he could pick up what they were saying easily.
"Ooh, this one's a cutie!"
"I wouldn't mind going out with him some time!"
"His hair is really cool!"
Gohan blushed and searched for his class. This was like searching for Namekian villages all over again; finding where he needed to be was going to be a nigh-impossible feat. Finally, Gohan found a door labeled "1989B" and opened it up. He was surprised to see a huge, already filled class. He looked around nervously when the teacher, a bald man who looked to be in his forties, turned his attention to him.
"Ah, so you must be Son Gohan. A little late, are we?" The teacher asked. Also of note, Gohan was slightly surprised by how much he sounded like Yamcha.
"I just got lost, that's all." Gohan explained.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Gohan. I'm Mr. Sabat, you homeroom teacher." Mr. Sabat turned to the class. "Students, you can learn something from this kid right here – he got perfect scores on his entrance exams!"
The students gasped upon hearing this. They all started exchanging whispers with each other, most of them along the line of "Nerd," "I should make him do my homework," and of course, "His hair's funny but he's really cute!"
"It's such an impressive feat." Mr. Sabat continued.
"Yeah, whatever." Gohan replied. That was becoming his catchphrase. He walked over to the desks where he was met with the voice of a loud blonde.
"Hey cutie! YOO HOO! Over here!" She said, pointing to the empty seat next to her. Trying to overcome the assault being unleashed upon his ears, Gohan walked up to where she was and took a seat. He looked at the ditzy blonde next to him with half open eyes as if to indicate that he didn't really want to talk to her right now, but if she got the message she sure wasn't showing it, because she started chatting away.
"Hey, I'm Erasa! Our school doesn't get enough cute guys like you!" Erasa said, oblivious to the hell she was unleashing upon Gohan's ears.
A long haired blonde guy leaned over. "Hey, I resent that!" He complained.
"Oh, hush!" Erasa said, waving a dismissive hand at him. She turned her attention back to Gohan. "That's Sharpner; you'll get used to his yelling."
I hope that's the case with you. Gohan thought, wisely keeping that little comment to himself.
"And over HERE is Videl!" Erasa said, pointing to the girl with black pig tails that looked just as disinterested as Gohan was. "She's a tough one, but you'll like her! And get this – her father is Mr. Satan himself! How's it feel to know the daughter of a celebrity, huh Gohan?"
Gohan knew or Mr. Satan very well. He didn't particularly care about being known for defeating Cell but it still kind of irked him how that buffoon was taking credit for his accomplishments. Gohan gave an indifferent sigh. "Gee, I'm overcome with disbelief as I speak." Gohan deadpanned before turning back to the front of the blackboard with a faraway look.
The three people next to him all looked at him with wide eyes, yes even Videl. Sharpner was the first to speak up. "Dude, you do realize that he's the guy who defeated Cell, right."
Gohan yawned and stretched his arms. "Yeah, not particularly a significant subject to me." Gohan buried his head in his desk. He already had enough of this school and he was barely even in it for five minutes! Videl's eyes narrowed as she gave him a look. Gee, what crawled up his ass and died?
"Oh, whatever. Anyway," Sharpner began, "I'm sure you've all heard of the Gold Fighter already! I heard he beat up some more criminals earlier this morning!"
That caught Gohan's attention. He already had a nickname? He lifted his head up and looked over at the conversing trio.
"Yeah, I wonder who he is. They said he had crazy spiky Golden hair and super strength." Erasa said. He looked over at Gohan. "Do you know anything about him?"
"Nope, never heard of him." Gohan lied. The tone of his voice indicated someone who really didn't feel like talking right now.
Videl looked over at him again. Hmm…come to think of it, his hair does look a lot like his. "His" of course, was referring to the mysterious Delivery Boy from the Cell Games. But his hair is black, so there's no way. Then again, those guys in the Cell Games, the one with the crazy spiky hair and the other guy with the lavender hair, were able to change their hair color. Videl spoke up, "You don't seem to care much about anything, do you?"
"Gee, you oughta win a prize." Gohan said sarcastically. How long was this damned class gonna go on for? That remark earned him a glare from Videl. This kid has such an attitude problem! What's got him acting so mean in the first place? She couldn't believe the gall of this guy to not only belittle her father's achievements, but also mouth off like that to someone he just met!
Sharpner laughed. "We've got a real smart aleck on our hands, here!"
Erasa joined him. "Well I for one like a guy with a sense of humor!" She said flirtingly. Gohan groaned. Who was she, Master Roshi's granddaughter or something? "So where do you live, anyway?"
"East District 439." Gohan replied, almost robotically.
Erasa gasped in shock. "But that's nearly five hours from here! You must have to get up really early in the morning to get here!"
Gohan yawned. "I have my ways."
The rest of the period went on in [merciful] silence. Sure, Erasa was practically molesting him with her eyes, but he put up with it until the bell rang, releasing Gohan from what was surely a practical joke from Dende. Gohan took out of a piece of paper to find where his locker assignment was, which was conveniently just a few feet away from his homeroom. Much to his chagrin, a certain pig tailed girl had a locker right next to his.
"Well, Mr. Rotten Apple, what an interesting turn of events this is." Videl said. Gohan remained silent, swearing to Dende he was going to give him a piece of his mind when this was all said and done. Videl snatched the schedule from his hands and looked it over. "As if things couldn't get more convenient, we have most of the same classes. Looks like we'll be seeing each other a lot more than we'd like."
"Fan-friggin'-tastic."Gohan dryly said.
"Whatever, I'll walk with you to our next class. I suppose I can put up with your sarcasm for a couple of minutes." Gohan grunted in response. Okay, now he was sure Dende was trying to mess with him. He could practically hear his laughter. Gohan slammed his locker door shut, which got him a few glances from the other kids in the hall. He walked away, with Videl following along.
Against her smarter judgment, Videl sparked up a conversation. "So, what school did you go to before coming here?"
"Home schooled." Gohan replied plainly.
"Well I guess that would explain your lack of social skills." Videl commented.
Gohan rolled his eyes. "Well if you're just gonna start judging me we might as well not even talk." Was his reply, with clear frustration in his voice.
Videl snorted in response. "Maybe you oughta try not being a prick."
"Duly noted." Gohan said in glorious sarcasm.
Videl looked up at him with interest. She had to admit, he was a quick witted one. Perhaps she could make snappy exchanges like this a daily occurrence with him? This was, dare she say, kinda fun. And he is pretty cute… Videl thought before getting a hold of herself. Oh, what am I saying? I've been hanging around Erasa for way too long!
On the way to class, Gohan bumped into some muscularly built, redhead guy. "Hey, watch where you're going, punk!"
"I wasn't the one who was running around the hall like a moron." Gohan replied. Videl looked at Gohan with wide eyes. Gohan, you idiot! Must you be sarcastic to everyone? Stapler will break you in half!
"If I were you, I'd watch what I say!" Stapler warned.
"Uh huh, whatever." Gohan said. He brushed past him and continued walking to his class. Stapler looked over his shoulder at him, clearly angry.
"Gohan, do you realize who you were talking to? That was Stapler, the roughest senior in the whole school! Of course, I can beat him with no problem, but you don't look all of that tough." Videl warned.
"Gee, thanks." Gohan replied. "And he just looked like a dumb, obnoxious, brute to me."
"Just saying, don't act all tough to someone who clearly outmatches you." Videl said.
Gohan laughed to himself. She didn't know that he could probably break that moron's bones with just the tip of his finger. They finally walked into their next class, which was Algebra. Much to Gohan's horror, a familiar ditzy voice greeted him.
"Oooh, I see Gohan and Videl are already hitting it off!" Erasa teased. Videl looked at Erasa in horror. Even Gohan was showing more emotion than usual!
"It's nothing like that! Our lockers are next to each other is all!" Videl said, her cheeks crimson red.
Erasa laughed. "Yeah, riiiiiight." The Saiyan in Gohan was telling him to snap this girl's neck to cease his misery. Letting out a huff, Gohan sat down next to the gossipy airhead and took a much needed nap.
15 minutes later, his sleep was interrupted by the teacher, Mrs. Nadolny. "Well, since our wild haired kid in the back is taking a nap, I'm sure he must know the answer to the equation." Gohan's head snapped up. It wasn't that he didn't know the answer, it was just that he was enjoying that nap, dammit! The class collectively "Ooh"'d as they all turned to look over at the Demi-Saiyan. Gohan sighed and took a quick glance at the equation on the board. That question was simple!
"C'mon, Brains, show us how smart you are!" Sharpner challenged.
"Subtract 5000 from 50000, divide the answer, 45000, by 5, and the answer to the equation is x is greater than 9000." Gohan explained, not even attempting to hide the apathy in his voice. The class looked at Gohan with all of their mouths gaped open. This crazy haired bastard really was smart.
Mrs. Nadolny cleared her throat in approval. "I…see. That is correct."
Upon hearing that, Gohan rested his head back on his desk and slept for the rest of the period, and Mrs. Nadolny didn't even utter a complaint. Minutes later, the bell rang. Everyone got up to leave, but Gohan was still deep in his sleep. Seeing that the bell didn't wake him up, Videl decided slamming her book on his desk was a better option. Gohan quickly jolted up, and boy was he pissed.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He shouted at the raven haired girl.
"You were pretty dozed off. Don't agree with my waking methods?" She teased.
"Well don't pull that shit again." Gohan warned.
"Okay, Lord Grumpiness." Videl joked. "Anyways, we're headed off to lunch."
Oh, great, now he was going to have to socialize with these guys. To make matters worse, the food definitely wasn't going to even come close to filling his Saiyan appetite. Gohan stepped into the crowded cafeteria and took a spot in the lunch line. He looked over at the tray presented in front of him and snorted in annoyance. What was this, a TV dinner? Gohan snatched it off the counter, and just as he was about to turn to walk off, a familiar face was blocking his way.
"Didn't think you would see me again, huh?" It was Stapler. Videl saw the face off and stood up, checking it out. She was worried about Gohan's safety.
Gohan really didn't feel like dealing with this. Gohan's eyes narrowed in anger and he shot Stapler a glare that would outshine even Vegeta's. "Take it to the heart when I tell you that I am not in the mood for your bullshit. Cut out your stupid little tough guy act, because if you haven't noticed, it's really starting to piss me off. And trust me; neither of us would like the result of that. Now get out of my fucking face." Gohan said in a dangerously calm voice. Stapler took his warning seriously and shifted to the right, looking mortified.
The normally noisy cafeteria fell silent. Did this palm tree haired guy really just stand up to and scare the ever loving shit out of the toughest guy in school? Many people made mental notes never to mess with that kid again. Videl, Sharpner, and Erasa looked at their new acquaintance with their mouths gaping open. Stapler was shaking as he walked away.
"Th-that guy, man, that look in his eyes." He rambled to nobody in particular. "It was like starin' into the eyes of the devil himself!"
Gohan glanced at the trio before walking out of the cafeteria and up to the roof. Videl didn't know what to say.
Okay, Gohan, you've captured my interest.